Over the last few weeks there's been a barn owl, swooping over the rougher bits of pasture in the field in front of the house. It's been there in the early evenings, when it's still really light - floating like some white ghost - magnificent. A couple of times it's been mobbed by a local kestrel.

This morning, I left for work much later and there it was again at 8:30 am, in the morning's sunshine, flying over the grass tops and circling around. Great to see it in day light, but I wonder if that's not a good sign? Desperate for food perhaps.